Skype For Android Hacked & Made 3G Friendly For Those In The US

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There was a bit of good news and bad news for Skype users sporting an Android smartphone yesterday. It seems that Verizon has lost the exclusive on the app and the good news was that a Skype app was available for all in the Android Market. The bad news came for those in the US when they realized that the app was restricted to Wi-Fi.

In other words, no 3G calling was allowed. Well, things change and although this is not an official release — Skype for Android is now available with support for 3G. Bottom line here, this app is not going to be found in the official Android Market. Instead the app is coming by way of Droid Forums user Xeudoxus who is perhaps better known in the Android community for DarkEdge and xUltimate.

Either way though, the Skype app has been modified and re-uploaded for your downloading (and 3G calling) pleasures. You can grab a copy of the app from his member page over on the Droid Forums.

Image courtesy: Droid-Life

As for getting the app installed. Really not much to worry about. First, go ahead and uninstall the official Skype app, and then download the app either directly to your phone or to your computer. Keep in mind, if you download to your computer you will then need to transfer the downloaded .apk file over to the microSD card in your phone. In terms of actually being able to install the file, simple, just click “Install” to run and install it as you would other sideloaded apps. Of course you do need to make sure you have the the box checked for “Unknown sources” which can be found by going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications. And for those wondering, you do not need to be rooted.